Just getting started with SEO and local search for your small business? If so, Marketing Sherpa recently published a local search case study that serves as a pretty good, pretty basic blueprint.

It recounts the steps taken by a regional eye care center in the Chicago. The Cliffs’ Notes version would be this:

Used PPC for baseline keyword research.

Did additional keyword research.

On-site SEO: technical issues, local content/copy, etc.

Off-site work: link building, Google Places, etc.

That’s just the start of what I’d call a successful SEO plan, and there’s certainly a lot more this eye care center will need to do over the long haul. But like I said, if you’re just getting started, you could do a lot worse than to read and follow the steps they took.